LONGMONT -- Longmont police on Friday identified the officer who shot a gunman in an exchange of gunfire early Wednesday morning as Officer Brent Cairns.

Cairns works on patrol during the department's Watch III overnight shift.

He is on paid administrative leave while a multi-agency team investigates the early morning shooting. The leave is standard while the "shoot team" works to determine whether all department policies and laws were followed.

According to police reports, Cairns stopped Jonathan Shank's Subaru Impreza after spotting it traveling east along Ken Pratt Boulevard at 2:12 a.m. Wednesday without headlights. Shank pulled over and stopped in the parking lot of Best Buy at the Harvest Junction shopping area and, police reported, got out of his car and immediately opened fire on Cairns with a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle. Cairns was able to get out of his car and keep the vehicle between himself and Shank as he returned fire with his 9 mm Glock 17, police reported. Cairns was not hit, but he struck Shank at least three times.

Cairns, 36, has worked for the Longmont Police Department for four years and worked for the Denver Sheriff's Office for four years before that.

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He won a Medal of Valor in 2010 for working with other officers in an officer-involved shooting in August 2009 that left the suspect dead. The suspect had led police on a 20-minute chase and then brandished a gun, according to reports. Cairns was not among the officers who fired in that case.

In 2011, he won a Longmont Public Safety Award in the lifesaving category. He and two other police officers were credited with keeping a suicidal woman from jumping off the highest point of the Ken Pratt overpass on April 23, 2010. His record also includes eight letters of commendation.

"I do have a concern just from an officer-safety standpoint," Satur said.

Satur said investigators are working on an arrest warrant for Shank, who remains at Denver Health under 24-hour guard. Police contracted a private security company to keep watch over Shank at a cost of about $30 per hour, he said. Satur said the warrant affidavit will likely be presented to the Boulder County district attorney for consideration next week.

The shoot team report is likely to be presented to Longmont Public Safety Chief Mike Butler and Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett next week.

Satur said investigators are piecing together Shank's motive, but he cannot release information about it yet. Shank has a relatively minor criminal record, which includes a DUI, driving under revocation and minor in possession tickets and other minor traffic infractions.

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